This chapter provides a basis for nursing students to understand the ways in which children and young people’s rights are upheld in Australia and New Zealand, particularly within the healthcare systems. It provides insight into the ways in which human rights, and particularly child rights, inform paediatric nursing policy and practice. It begins by looking at the international agreements and covenants regarding the protection of child rights that have been endorsed by Australia and New Zealand, before moving on to examine the national legislation and the implications for health and social support systems. The second part of the chapter looks at some of the ethical challenges regarding child and family rights that you will consider as a paediatric nurse. In particular, we look at issues surrounding access to family, advocacy and consent to treatment of specific diseases in some situations. It provides a basis for understanding the way in which children and young people’s rights – including the right to be protected from all forms of violence and neglect – are upheld in Australia and New Zealand, particularly within the health and welfare systems.

It can be difficult to determine when a child can be defined as having complex medical needs (Cohen et al., 2011). What one family finds complex, another family may adapt to more easily. One child with a particular condition may have less severity and more function than another child with the same or a similar condition. Furthermore, the discussion around the care of children with complex medical needs has often used different terms for similar things – care that is ‘medically complex’, or children who are ‘technology dependent’ or ‘medically frail’.

This chapter explores some of the causes of complex medical needs in children and young people, and discusses related nursing care and interventions. The important and central role of parents, caregivers and families in the care of children with complex needs is also considered. The chapter concludes by discussing the challenges facing young people with complex conditions and their families as they transition from paediatric to adult healthcare services.

This introductory chapter examines the health and wellbeing of children and young people growing up in Australia and New Zealand. Itlooks at the population characteristics of future generations, facilitators and challenges to healthy growth and development, and emerging health and social trends. It considers the health and wellbeing of children and young people as situated within their individual developmental journey. Whether born in New Zealand or Australia, or arriving as a child or young person, growth is nested within the social and cultural traditions of familyduring times of rapid social and environmental change.

The chapter begins by reviewing some of the common demographic and statistical indicator measures used to monitor the health and wellbeing of children and young people across the world. Being aware of the many different ways in which age and other measures are used to describe the health of children and young people can support the best use of the international evidence. The chapter then explores how these principles can be applied to key conditions and societal constructs relevant to the health and wellbeing of children and young people growing up in Australia and New Zealand.

This chapter presents guidelines and recommendations for managing emotional and behavioural responses related to children’s experiences of illness. It provides an overview of psychosocial development to best illustrate the relationship between child development and response and adaptation to illness. The relationship is bidirectional – that is, responses are shaped according to the psychodevelopmental stage of the child or young person, and at the same time developmental outcomes are impacted by the experiences and challenges of both acute and chronic illness. The family is also impacted when a child or young person is experiencing illness. Families are central to the care of children – in fact, the paediatric patient and their wider family provide the focus for care. This chapter therefore also explores what it means to be a family and family-centred care, and presents frameworks that can be used to assess and consider the psychosocial needs of families when a child is experiencing illness.